Alison Steele Returns to WNEW, October 18, 1982

Something was in the air in NYC in the fall of 1982 -- literally. The voices of Howard Stern and Alison Steele took flight in the ears of the city's radio listeners, and things were never quite the same afterwards.

Howard was very young at the time and had just started at the now defunct WNBC radio in NYC. It was a legendarily bad run for him but, in 1985, he was fired and went over to 92.3 K-Rock where he would soar into legend.

Alison Steele was a different but nonetheless interesting case. She had started out in rock radio in the late 1960s at WNEW and then, in the late 70s, left. For a while she did voiceover and commercial work, and even DJ'd for an airline (I think it was TWA). But in the fall of 1982 she returned to WNEW -- the Nightbird flew again for the grateful listeners of NYC. She would remain at WNEW until 1989 where she would then move over to overnights at K-ROCK -- and would go off the air just before Howard came on. She would stay at K-ROCK until her untimely death in 1995.

But all of that was to come. Here is Alison's first show back at WNEW in October, 1982, exactly 44-years ago today:

And hey, if you want to, here's a lil' bit of Howard's first day at WNBC -- and in NYC radio! -- in September 1982, before Howard and Alison's fates intertwined:

Howard Stern's "Crucified by the FCC" (1991)

In the late 1980s Howard Stern was exploding on the radio, re-writing the rules of what you could and couldn't say on the public airwaves. Originating on station 92.3 K-Rock in NYC, the morning "shock jock" was getting his show syndicated in markets around the country, entertaining and outraging listeners across the fruited plain. 

This also brought his show into the crosshairs of the Federal Communications Commission which started imposing million dollar-plus fines on his company for "indecent content."

Until 2005, when Howard left regular radio for satellite, he would continue to get fined and harassed by the FCC.

But in 1991, Howard did something brilliant -- he took the uncensored segments from his show that had gotten him fined and produced an album of these supposedly "too hot for radio" bits -- including phone sex, people burping, and a man playing the piano with his wiener -- called Crucified by the FCC. The album included commentary from Howard and others about why these bits got them in trouble with the US Government.

Listened to today these bits are totally silly and not even that outrageous -- and compared with what's on social media and podcasts and YouTube, they're downright. But most of all, it's really funny stuff.

If you want to hear the whole album go here -- and watch these TV segments from the early 1990s when this album was released. 

Remembering the Greaseman

Back in the 1990s my go-to radio station was 92.3 K-Rock ("Howard Stern All Morning, Classic Rock'n'Roll All Day). I even blogged about what was a kind of radio golden age back then -- Howard Stern, Allison Steele, and other great DJs of the day who were all on the station at the time.

The only exception to this was the bizarre presence of the Greaseman who broadcast at night from 6-10 PM on the station. It's hard to describe the Greaseman's DJ act -- it was all wild shtick, all over-the-top babble. He couldn't speak clearly or complete a comprehensible sentence, and he'd spout gibberish like "Waddle-doodalay, its da' Grease!" or "Hahahha Bone-Dry!" Weird. He'd burst into song (I remember one about the OJ Simpson trial done to the tune of "Georgia on My Mind" -- that was ... odd) and he'd take calls where he'd give shticky answers -- the whole act was a mess.

The thing about the Greaseman was that he wasn't actually broadcasting in NYC -- apparently he was in Los Angeles doing an afternoon show that was simulcast into other markets in the evenings (his humor was decidedly not New York-ish humor, it was some kind of redneck/middle America stuff that's beyond me). The idea, I suppose, was to have him on nights in NYC and make him a kind of evening bookend to Howard Stern in the morning -- but it didn't work. Howard ruled the NYC morning ratings while "da Grease!" was a ratings flop at night. And Howard haaattted him, ranting about how embarrassed he was to be on the same station as Grease ("I am steak and he's ... a paper cup!"). 

Still, as awful as his show was, he was a part of something great -- and then it all came to an end.

Eventually Greaseman lost his syndicated show and was off the air in NYC. This was clearly the highpoint of his career and it's now long in the past. "Da Grease!" wound up in Washington DC doing a local show -- and got fired there when he made a joke about how if more black people were killed by being dragged from the backs of trucks, we'd get more national holidays. Yeah, that was a baaaaddd and he's bounced around the radio dial from tiny station to tiny station ever since.

So that's the (short) story of when the Greaseman graced the airwaves of NYC, a bizarre moment in time that only Mr NYC could possibly remember. 

Fond Farewells

Though they couldn't be more different, two events happened this week that marked the passage of time, the end of eras in the history of NYC culture.

First, the passing of legendary stage, screen and TV actress Angela Lansbury. What can one say about this amazing talent who could sing and act like no one else, whose career spanned from roughly 1944 to 2018, who appeared in brilliant films like Gaslight (1944), The Manchurian Candidate (1962) and Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971, one of my wife's favorites), a decade-plus run on TV with Murder, She Wrote (1984-1996) -- and multiple roles on Broadway including Mame, Sweeney Todd, and Blithe Spirit (amongst many others) that won her a total of 5 Tony Awards? She was an acting legend's legend, someone who made Broadway the truly "great" White Way, and we'll probably never see her likes again -- we only got to enjoy her talent for almost 80 years. 

Second, the news that the "news" will be replacing the music on that spot on the NYC radio dial 92.3 FM. It's been a music station for decades starting in the 1940s, and in the 1970s it became an all-disco station (WKTU) before becoming K-ROCK, a classic rock station in 1980s -- the station that thrust Howard Stern into the cultural firmament of NYC, then the rest of the country (I blogged about this in 2019). Howard went to satellite in 2006, and K-ROCK floundered, changing formats to "hot talk" then back to music, finally becoming "Alt 92.3" -- but now the station will dump music altogether and instead simulcast its sister station 1010 WINS, the "all news, all the time" station that keeps NYC moving (plus they "give you the world" in 22 minutes). K-ROCK was also the station of Allison Steele, Vin Scelsa, and lots of great music so it's sad to see it vanish into the ether, to become essentially an FM-offshoot of an all-news station -- but in this era of podcasting, streaming, etc. radio is in decline, and this just proves it. RIP 92.3 FM, and thanks for the memories. 

Making NYC Radio Great Again

92.3 FM, the old K-Rock, which years ago abandoned rock music to become a pop station, is now a rock station once again. 

Sadly it won't be a resurrected K-Rock, instead calling itself Alt 92.3 and playing "alternative" rock. Back in the day, it used to be classic rock (until 1996), then became "modern" rock and then, after Howard Stern left, it became a short-lived "hot talk" station before becoming a modern rock station once more and then, finally, a pop station. It changed its call letters to WAMP and completely abandoned it's rock'n'roll identity -- until now. 

I guess K-Rock is gone for good but at least a great frequency is rightfully returned to its place in the NYC cultural firmament. 

*In 1996, when K-Rock flipped from classic to modern rock, Howard Stern was the first DJ:

Howard Stern's First Day on 92.3 K-Rock (November 18, 1985)

Opie and Anthony Fired

Big news in NYC radio today: 92.3 K-Rock flipped its hard rock format and will now be another cookie-cutter Top 40 radio station. This has resulted in the firing of the station's morning team, Opie and Anthony.

K-Rock was the home to Howard Stern who did morning for 20 years (1985-2005) before he departed for satellite radio. In 2006, K-Rock became "Free FM", a "shock talk" station with David Lee Roth as the new morning man. "Free FM" was a ratings disaster - its lasted less than a year and a half, and Roth lasted less than five months. He was then replaced by the now departed Opie and Anthony.

Opie and Anthony have been kicking around New York radio for about a decade. They came here from Boston in 1998 and did afternoons at the old WNEW. They were very popular and very controversial, and they were fired in 2002 when they sent some dumb listeners into St. Patrick's Cathedral to have sex -- on air. They then disappeared and went to satellite radio in 2004 before being simulcast on K-Rock in 2006.

Now they're fired again. Will they return to regular radio in NYC ever again? Who knows! This morning on his satellite radio show their old predecessor and nemesis, Howard Stern, talked about their firing, his time on K-Rock, and the miserable state of New York City radio today. As always, Howard is brilliant in his commentary.

God I miss listening to him on New York radio. As he said on his last show on K-Rock, he's "the last of a dying breed."

The Best Radio Station You're Not Listening To

More and more New Yorkers aren't listening to music radio anymore; instead they tune into the literally thousands of songs that their IPods can hold. Everywhere you go, you see New Yorkers with little white buds coming out of their ears and white cords running down their necks as they ride the subways and buses, work out at the gym, stroll through the parks, or walk along the streets. Living in NYC today is like living amongst several million Secret Service agents.

But what's really wrecked havoc on music radio today is media consolidation. Here in NYC, Clear Channel owns Z100, Q104.3, WKTU, Power 105, and Lite FM. CBS Radio owns WCBS FM and AM, WFAN, 92.3 K-ROCK, 1010 WINS, and Fresh 102.7. Think about it: only two radio conglomerates own a huge swath of the airwaves in the country's biggest radio market. And most of what they play is either Top 40 or old hits, the same songs being repeated and overplayed, ad nauseam, ad infinitum. There's very little really good, interesting music to be found on the city's major airwaves today.

Except for one station: WRXP 101.9 FM "The NY Rock Experience" (yes, it used to be CD 101.9, the "smooth jazz" station that is mercifully no longer). WRXP easily plays the best music on commercial radio in this town today. It's the same station where you can hear a great old Beatles tune followed Linkin Park. They play Radiohead right after Janis Joplin and right before Bob Marley. You can hear tracks off the new Killers album and then a great Van Halen classic. It even plays good Stuff White People Like music such as R.E.M., Coldplay, and Tom Petty. It also plays some songs you won't hear on other radio stations, like Lou Reed's classic "Dirty Boulevard" or ZZ Top's "Tube Steak Boogie." It's just great music, period (heck, that could even be the station's slogan).

What really impresses me about this station is that you get the feeling the programmers respect their audience. They know that people who appreciate good music want to hear stuff they might not have heard before. WRXP also doesn't have "wacky" DJs or stupid jingles -- just straight to the point announcements and very little talk. Oh, and it doesn't have a lot of commercials either, so it's almost all music all of the time.

WRXP isn't getting very good ratings right now but hopefully that will change. But if you're feeling bummed about listening to music on the radio in NYC, give this station a listen, you might like it.

P.S. This has been a public service announcement. WRXP has in no way paid me for this plug. Wouldn't it be nice if they did though?

The Infinite Dial

"Howard Stern All Morning, Classic Rock'n'Roll All Day": K-Rock Memories

My previous re-post about Alison Steele, and a comment by the great blogger Zen Denizen, triggered a flood of nostalgia in me for the old 92.3 K-Rock. It was the only radio station I listened to in high school during the early 1990s, and it used to be the classic rock station in NYC. While everyone else in my school listened to Z-100 or Hot 97, I was one of only a few who listened to K-Rock all the time. I even remember the line-up:

Howard Stern, 6-10AM
Pete Fornatel, 10 AM-2 PM
Dave Herman's Afternoon Rock'n'Roll Show, 2-6 PM
The Greaseman, 6-10 PM
Maria Molito or Dea Snee, 10 PM-2 AM
Alison Steele, the Night Bird, 2-6 AM

I don't know why I still hold such affection for, of all things, a radio station line-up. Maybe it's just part of getting older and something like this reminds me of a simpler time in my life. Or maybe it was just that it had Howard Stern and my favorite kind of rock music on the same station. But I think what I liked about it most was that Pete, Dave, Allison, and Maria were classy DJs who you could tell really loved the music they were playing and seemed to respect their audience. And in this time of radio consolidation and voice-tracking, etc. they were people who made radio an art form and a community ... the way it used to be.

Remembering Alison Steele, "The Night Bird"

“The flutter of wings, the shadow across the moon, the sounds of the night, as the Nightbird spreads her wings and soars, above the earth, into another level of comprehension, where we exist only to feel. Come, fly with me, Alison Steele, the Nightbird, at WNEW-FM, until dawn.”

With those angelic words, Alison would begin her overnight broadcasts. She would then play some of the greatest rock n'roll ever: the Stones, Dylan, Led Zeplin, The Who, The Doors - you name it. Her silky voice, seductive in its maturity and wisdom, reassured you that there was someone kind out there, making you feel safe during the small hours. She was the grand dame of the New York night, her gentility soothing and smoothing the edges of a rough city. Her gracious audio presence would nurse her listeners through the darkness, into the first blushes of day.

In her later years, Alison migrated to 92.3 K-ROCK, going off the air at 6 AM, right before the raucous Howard Stern would rouse the city. I first encountered Allison's voice in the early 1990s when I was in high school. I would wake up around 5:50 or 5:55 AM in order to listen to Howard and Allison would usually be closing out her show. As a song by Yes or The Police would end, Alison's lovely voice would come on, wishing listeners like me a good morning. Then she would leave us with a parting thought, a little piece of wisdom, usually conveyed in a quotation from one of the great poets like Edgar Allan Poe or William Wordsworth. And then the Nightbird would fly away, leaving us to our usually tumultuous days.

What a great, sweet memory.

Sadly, Alison is no longer with us. All the greats leave before their time. She passed away on September 27, 1995 from cancer. I remember that I had just started college and this news was one of the first things I learned on this then new Internet contraption. It's so hard to believe that she's been gone more than twelve years because it feels just like yesterday that I was waking up to her voice. Like Jean Shepard, she was a genuine radio artist. And in this era of radio consolidation and voice-tracking, it's doubtful we'll ever see her likes again.

But at least we had her when, a small burst of light in a dark place. Let's remember and thank Alison Steele for the comfort she brought this city. In this bitter world, even a decade on, let's remember someone pretty sweet.

Tribute pages:

The First Lady of Rock & Roll
A Page for Alison Steele
Alison's Wikipedia Entry